One More Kate I
by ucsbdad
Summary: Just how many Kate Becketts can there be? That's what Rick Castle wants to know. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

One More Kate

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: One more time. I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Sometime in Season Seven, after the Caskett wedding.

**Author's note: This is one of a series of AU stories that builds on the alternate universe Rick found in The Time of Our Lives and continued by me in Alexis's in Wonderland, Four of a Kind and I, Spy. One or two characters from I, Spy will make an appearance. **

"God damnit, Castle! What do you think you're doing?"

Rick Castle was woken by his wife's scream. He looked blearily at his watch. It was just a bit past 5:30. "Trying to sleep. Go back to bed."

"Don't tell me to get in your god damned bed. Who the fuck do you think you are?"

He opened his eyes again. He had no idea what he'd done, or hadn't done, but Kate was obviously royally pissed off. "I think I'm your husband. Who do you think I am?"

"My husband? Are you totally insane? What have you done with my clothes? How did you get me out of my place and here? Answer me, dammit."

He sat up and looked at her standing by her side of the bed. For the first time he realized something was really wrong. "What did you do to your hair?" Her hair, previously long, curly and light chestnut colored, was now short and dark brown with a very slight tint of red. He realized her hair was like when he had first met her. He also decided her boobs were a bit firmer and perkier than when they had been just the night before.

She reached across the bed and slapped him, hard. "Don't you dare look at me, you pervert. Oh my God! Did you have sex with me?"

"No. You were too tired when you got home to have sex." He was now staring at his side of the bedroom. Even more was wrong. The usually neat loft was a mess. The bookcase that formed one wall of the bedroom was missing more than half its books. The carpet was filthy and the whole place smelled musty. He began to get out of bed. "Beckett, something is wrong here. We need to…" Before he could say anymore, he was struck across the back of the head and went face first into the carpet. He could feel Kate jump on top of him and tie his hands behind his back.

"Where are my clothes? What have you done with them?"

"They're in the closet, on the right."

He heard a muffled shriek when she opened the closet. "It's filled with women's clothes. Are these souvenirs from the bimbos you've brought here, or do you wear them, you pervert?"

"They're all yours. If you look carefully, some have been made specifically for you."

"Was that your plan? To kidnap me and keep me here pretending we're married? It's not going to work, Mr. Castle. You'll spend the rest of your life in prison."

He could hear her getting dressed and then heard her rummaging around in the chest of drawers. "You have my dad's watch. What did you do with my mom's wedding ring?"

"Nothing. You stopped wearing it when we arrested the guy who ordered her murder. Look, we have more important…"

"How do you know about my mom? And what do you mean by _we_ arrested her killer? Are you totally insane?"

"Beckett, something is seriously wrong here."

"You bet there is. What have you done with my phone? I can't get any service."

"Beckett, will you listen to me?"

"You open your mouth again, and even if it costs me my badge, I'll brain you with this." He turned and saw she was wearing a nice light grey pants suit he'd gotten for her with a white turtleneck. In her hand was a badly broken lamp she'd used to hit him with.

"Where's my weapon? Tell me."

"In the safe. In my office."

He led her there and told her how to open the safe.

"You have a gun stored here?" She demanded.

He shook his head. He wished he hadn't. It hurt. "It's yours. It's a .40 caliber Glock you carried as a Fed."

"Why do you have to keep lying? It just gets you in more trouble." She took the Glock 19 out and put in her holster, the locked the safe. She picked up his phone from the charger on his desk. She couldn't get any service.

"We'll take a cab to the precinct." She said decisively.

Suddenly Castle remembered something. "Shit! Alexis and my mother. I have to see if they're here and if they're okay." He headed for the staircase.

"Castle! Stop or I'll shoot."

He turned to face her. "Then shoot, but I have to make sure they're not here."

Kate was too good a cop to shoot him, but ran up the stairs and pushed him face down. "Okay, you can go, but only after I cuff you. You so much as blink wrong and you're dead. Understand?"

He didn't move a muscle as she cuffed him. He ran to Alexis' room. It was empty. "Monkey Bunkey is gone, so she must have gotten out of here with it." He then ran to Martha's room. It was empty.

"Okay, Castle. We're going to the 12th Precinct. Now."

"With me just wearing my boxers?" Castle bleated.

"Yes!"

They went to the elevator, but found it was inoperative. They walked down the stairs. At the lobby, he noticed no one was manning the doorman's desk. Something was seriously wrong.

As soon as they hit the sidewalk, Castle changed his assessment for seriously wrong to catastrophically wrong. Except for two battered cars, the street was empty, dirt, leaves and trash blew around empty buildings with smashed windows. There were no people and there was an eerie quiet that hadn't been heard, or not heard, in New York City in centuries.

"What the hell is this?" Kate asked softly.

"I'm sure you'll decide I managed to depopulate New York as part of my plan." Castle said sarcastically. "Now, do you want to listen to me?"

"Castle, what the hell is going on? What the hell…" Kate stopped. "What's that?"

Castle turned around and found something out of his nightmares headed for them.

It was a spider, but like none he'd ever seen or heard of. Covered with shaggy grey fur, its legs were a good four feet long and its body was the size of a St. Bernard dog. The mouth was full of fangs and the red eyes screamed malevolence. It skittered towards them and a spray of clear fluid shot from its mouth. It missed them which was just as well since the liquid was starting to dissolve the cement sidewalk.

"Beckett! Shoot the damned thing before it kills us!" Castle screamed.

She put two shots into the thing's head. It staggered back a bit, then as it collapsed, a small stream of more fluid shot out.

Castle sighed in relief, then turned to thank Beckett. There was another monster, this one flying straight at them. He clumsily pushed Beckett to the ground and the thing soared over them.

"What the hell are you doing, Castle?" She screamed.

"Didn't you see that thing go over us?"

"So, a bird flew over us. Is that any reason to try to grope me?"

"A bird? Take a look. What flew over us picked up that spider thingy and took it off with it. Do you think that was a damned Central Park pigeon? It looked like a damned dragon." He pushed himself to his feet. "We have to go back to the loft and…"

"Shh. "She put her finger to her lips. "Something's coming."

Sure enough, he could hear a metallic clanking approaching. "It's probably the tin man with his axe." He grumbled.

Then a tank came around the corner. It was huge and as far as Castle could tell, it was unlike any tank of his Earth. In researching Derrick Storm, he'd gotten familiar with all sort of weapons. The hull looked to be a good ten feet tall, with a short cannon mounted in front. On top of the hull was a small turret, housing at least one cannon. Perched on the back to the thing were a dozen or so infantrymen wearing blue uniforms and carrying long rifles with very long bayonets.

"I've never seen one like it."

Kate stood up and waved at it. "Over here." She shouted.

The reaction was immediate. The soldiers opened fire and the turret swiveled to face them.

"Did you have to do that?" Castle screamed as they both dove behind an abandoned car.

"I thought the military would help us."

Before Castle could come up with a sarcastic remark, the tank was itself attacked. Dozens of men, wearing nothing but blood red capes and armed with flintlock muskets poured out of an alley and swarmed towards the tank. They could hear rifle fire and the sounds of at least one machine gun. A quick look told them that the tank was reversing down the street. Also, that one of the red caped men was headed straight for them.

Kate stood up and pointed her Glock at the man. "NYPD! Put down your weapon."

The man fired and missed. Kate didn't miss.

"Beckett, we need to go back to the loft and get all of your weapons and ammo. And I need the cuffs off and clothes on. Then we can….Oh SHIT!"

Coming up behind Kate was a truly gigantic man. He looked to be over eight feet tall and must have weighed four or five hundred pounds of solid muscle. His only weapon was an enormous erection. He smiled when he saw Kate and lumbered towards her.

Kate didn't bother yelling NYPD, but she did only shoot the man in his kneecap. He growled and kept coming at them. Kate put two rounds in his head and he collapsed in front of them.

"Beckett…"

"I know. The loft."

"Yes, but first, I think part of his face is on my chest. Can you get it off?"

Kate rolled her eyes, but wiped the blood and flesh from his chest.

They ran back into the loft and up the stairs. They went at once to the safe.

"Beckett, will you please uncuff me?"

"Castle, do you promise…"

"Beckett! Haven't you figured out by now this isn't some plot of mine to get you in bed? We're in big trouble and I'm trying to keep you alive."

"Sorry. Turn around." She undid his cuffs.

"Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get dressed." He stomped off without waiting for her reply.

He dressed in boots, jeans and a woolen shirt. He'd grab a coat from the hall closet. He did put Kate's engagement and wedding ring in his pocket.

When he came back to the office, she had the weapons out, her spare magazines filled and the extra boxes of ammo stacked up. She handed him the .40 caliber Glock. "Here. Sorry about everything, but you can see where I might…"

"Yes. I can see. Forget about it." Castle shook his head to clear it. He had to think. "What was the last case we worked?"

"The murder of City Councilman Horn."

"So we hardly knew each other"

"Oh, I knew you well enough." Kate blushed. "You said you married me? What is this, some kind of time travel?"

He shook his head, trying to think of some way to tell about this without sounding crazy. _Oh, what the hell. _He thought._ Of course, it sounds crazy. "_There are an infinite number of alternate Earths, parallel dimensions if you will. On some, Earth never coalesced as a planet. Some, there's no intelligent life, or the intelligent life is non-human. Most are some variations of what you know. But maybe Alexander the Great lived a long life and his empire endured for centuries. In one, the World Wars were different and the British Empire is still _the_ global power, and on and on and on. I was accidentally transferred to one, then kidnapped into another, and was asked to help…Well, we don't need to go into detail. That's what happened to us. I don't know how or why, but here we are. One other thing. I love my wife, Kate Beckett, more than I ever could imagine loving anyone. I've met other Kate Becketts, and I love them too, just not as I love my wife. I love you too, and I'll do anything, anything, to keep you safe."

Kate bit her lip. "That's a lot to digest. Especially the part about a guy I don't really like being in love with me."

"Okay, but you don't know this Richard Castle at all. And I've been with you for over six years. I've changed a lot, and so have you. That wall that you put up after your mom died isn't there anymore."

"You know about that? What else do you know about me?"

"Plenty. But our job now is to get out of this alive. I think we should head for the 12th Precinct. They'll hopefully have weapons and ammo there."

Kate nodded. "They also have emergency food, water and medical supplies in case of a disaster of some kind."

"Okay. We need to check the street. You take that side and I'll take this one."

They headed for the respective windows. "Mine is okay." Castle called out.

"Mine isn't. Will you come and look?"

He walked over and looked out. "Oh shit."


	2. Chapter 2

One More Kate

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: One more time. I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Sometime in Season Seven, after the Caskett wedding.

**Author's note: This is one of a series of AU stories that builds on the alternate universe Rick found in The Time of Our Lives and continued by me in Alexis's in Wonderland, Four of a Kind and I, Spy. One or two characters from I, Spy will make an appearance. **

"What _is_ that?"

"I think it's a stegosaurus. They're herbivorous. Um, my daughter, Alexis, was really into dinosaurs."

"Even if he's a vegetarian dinosaur, if he steps on us, we're dead."

"We'll go out my side." Castle said, hoping he was right. "Grab one of your coats from the hall closet."

They weren't five feet out onto the sidewalk when they saw it. The skin was grey and peeling off. It limped as one foot had already fallen off. Its clothes hung in rags. Castle shot it in the head. "I will never think zombies are cool again." He vowed.

They went another block before seeing anyone else. This one was holding his stomach with both hands, but couldn't staunch the flow of blood from his wound. He staggered past they, eyes unseeing. He was dressed in lace up boots, white trousers with blue vertical stripes, a bright red sash, a very baggy light blue shirt and a stovepipe hat with a red feather in the band.

"He came from that doorway up ahead." Kate warned. "Whoever did that to him may still be there."

He was, but he was flat on his back with a massive hole in his throat. He was dressed all in dirty white pants and a shirt, but with a green sash into which were tucked two revolvers. By his feet was another revolver.

Castle picked up all three weapons. He checked them carefully. "The one by his feet has one round fired, the two in the sash are unfired."

"We didn't hear a shot." Kate said, looking around.

"Maybe they were shot on whatever Earth they came from." Castle rummage around in the dead man's pockets. "He has spare ammo. Looks like it'll fit all three pistols." He tucked two into his jacket pockets and handed one to Kate. "I can't read the writing on it and I don't recognize the make. Have you seen anything like these?"

Kate shook her head. "Never."

Castle went around the corner too quickly and found himself up against a huge wall. As he looked up. He saw the wall was four enormous wolf-like beings, dressed like they were extras from _The Godfather._ The biggest one promptly doffed his fedora and smiled with a mouth full of fangs.

"Hello, dere." He said. "Ex-squeeze me, but me an' da boys, Muggsy, Buggsy and Puggsy, wuz lookin' fer some people here in Noo Yawk, but dere don't appear to be none. Could youse assist us?"

Castle was so shocked that he didn't even correct the double negative. "No. We're new here ourselves. I have no idea where everyone is."

The big one nodded. "T'ank youse very much. We'll jist be on our way, den." And off they went, their four tails wagging behind them.

They had gone another block when they heard the roar of a car engine coming towards them. Kate was a bit more cautious this time. She and Rick dropped behind a dumpster. The car, a classic Mustang, roared past them. In the car were four young blondes who all looked terrified. Kate didn't even have time to yell to them before they were gone.

"Stay down. "Castle whispered. "Someone else is coming. Does that sound like horses' hooves on asphalt?"

"I have no idea. I'm a city girl, remember? You're the one who stole the police horse."

It was horses' hooves. A dozen riders rode to the center of the intersection and stopped. The two peeked carefully around the corner. There were some shouts that sounded like orders and then they rode away from Rick and Kate.

"Any idea who they were?" She asked.

"That sounded like Spanish and the riders wore steel back and breastplates, and helmets. I saw swords, lances and what looked like pistols. At a guess, Spanish conquistadors? But from what Earth, I have no idea."

"I think I see someplace we should go." Kate said, running in a crouch towards a pawn shop. Castle followed her. She was ready to kick the door in when Castle pushed it open.

"What are we here for?" He asked.

"There aren't a lot of pawn shops in this area, but I know some are licensed gun dealers. We could use more firepower." Kate went behind the cash register and smiled. "Bingo. The pawnbroker has a security system." She held up a pump action shotgun. "And there are a couple of boxes of 12 gauge shells here."

Castle checked the display cases. "No weapons here." He tried the door to the back. "It's locked and it's a steel cored door. Do you see a key anywhere? I'll bet any other guns are locked up back there."

"Excuse me, gentlemen?" A voice from the doorway said.

Both whirled around covering the newcomer with their weapons. He didn't look dangerous. He was short and somewhat pudgy with a long white beard and a cheery looking red face. A few more pounds and he might have been Saint Nicholas. He wore a baggy, dark red robe and a floppy straw hat.

"My apologies." He said. "Gentle sir and your good lady. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ezekiel Penrose, Master of Thaumaturgy and Metaphysics at the Iroquois Federation University in Nova Albion. Are you perhaps residents of this magnificent city?"

"I'm afraid not." Castle replied. "We just got here ourselves."

"Oh, I had so hoped to meet the wonderful wizards who built this city. Or were they perhaps giants to have built such magnificently large structures?"

Castle shrugged. "I don't know. Like I said, we just got here ourselves. And we haven't seen anybody who looked like they could have built this place."

"Do you suppose they could have perfected the invisibility cloak and are here among us?" Master Penrose asked. "Excuse me, great and powerful wizards, are you here? Will you reveal yourself?" Master Penrose looked disappointed when no one answered. "Do you suppose that they live atop these great structures?"

Castle decided that he really didn't want to see the old fellow climb all the stairs in some skyscraper. "Perhaps the builders are non-corporeal." He suggested.

Kate, a sci-fi geek herself, added. "True. They may have ascended to a higher plane of existence."

Penrose smiled. "Ah, are you students of metaphysics as well?"

Castle shook his head. "Merely well-educated laymen. We claim no special knowledge or powers."

"We do have good hearing, though. Someone's coming. Lots of people. Master Penrose will you come behind the cabinet with us. Some of the beings we have met here have attacked us. Perhaps rogue minions, or some sort of civil war among wizards."

Penrose nodded and ran behind the counter. Rick and Kate peeked out through the glass display cases and looked at group now passing them. The word that seemed best to fit them was horde. They were shaggy and unkempt, with most wearing nothing but baggy pants. The exceptions all seemed to be in some sort of armor. And all were armed, mostly with spears but some carried swords.

"I seem to recall that swords were the most expensive weapons back in the day.' Castle whispered. "They took more metal to make than a spear or a dagger."

"They look like something out of a direct to DVD post-apocalyptic movie." Kate whispered back.

Several hundred of the men shambled past, one, apparently a leader, was on horseback. Then, finally, they were gone.

"Why would such powerful wizards allow such uneducated barbarians into this spectacular city?" Penrose asked.

"If they did ascend to a higher plane of existence, perhaps they no longer care for mere material things." Kate replied.

Penrose looked at her sharply. "Are you sure you have no training in metaphysics?"

Kate smiled at him. "Just a well-educated laypersons knowledge." She turned to Rick. "We should go now." She turned back to Penrose. "We think there is a safe place ahead. Do you wish to come with us?"

Penrose nodded and they were off.

They peeked around the corner to see the street the 12th Precinct should be on.

"Crap. Not again." Castle muttered. Ahead of them were over a hundred naked men and women dancing around a large bonfire in the middle of the street, chanting something in a language unknown to Rick and Kate. Parked on the perimeter of the dancers were a hundred or more motorcycles.

Penrose drew back. "I know that chant. Those are witches and warlocks, calling upon Satan to aid them."

"Witchy outlaw bikers?" Rick moaned. "What do you bet DMB is there?"

"Or maybe wild child Kate Beckett." Kate shot back.

"Do you have any idea how long they'll be there, Penrose?" Kate asked.

"Until Satan answers their prayers or until they get tired."

"We could be here for days."

"Someone's coming." Castle said. "I can hear engines. Lots of them."

"More bikers?"

"it doesn't sound like motorcycle engines. More like….Trucks." Castle yelled the last word as a dozen or more pickup trucks roared around the far corner and headed straight for the bikers.

"Not just trucks." He added. "Those are technicals." Machine guns and other heavy weapons were mounted on the cargo beds of the trucks and heavily armed men clung to the vehicles. The bikers had weapons of their own, but they were by their motorcycles. Although outnumbered, the people in the technicals had the advantage of both surprise and heavier weapons. The battle, what there was of it, was over in minutes.

Meanwhile Castle, Beckett and Penrose had ducked into the nearest building and had run up the stairs to the second floor. They watched the end of the battle from a window.

The surviving male bikers were executed with a gunshot to the head. Any badly wounded woman was similarly dispatched. The remaining women were tied up and thrown in the trucks along with the biker's weapons. Then the pickups roared off.

Castle breathed a sigh of relief. None of the women had looked like Kate Beckett.

"The guys in the technicals were mostly white, but not all. They were speaking some kind of English, I think, and their vehicles had Kansas plates. Where the hell were they from?" Kate asked.

They turned to head for the door and saw Penrose looking at them oddly. "You two know more about this place than you've admitted to me. Are you wizards?"

Castle shook his head. "We're not wizards. As to what we know…" He shook his head again. "We don't know what we do know or don't know. But we do have to get to someplace where we can hole up. We'll try to explain things to you then. Okay?"

"I suppose." Penrose said.

"Hold on." Kate called from the window. "Something's going down the street by the precinct."

"What?" Castle asked.

"A fifty-foot tall ape. He's headed for the Empire State Building it looks like."

"Has he got a blonde with him?"

"No woman at all."

"Let's go."

They saw no one or anything dangerous in the last blocks to the 12th Precinct. Castle and Beckett walked into the empty lobby with Penrose.

"We're safe." Castle said. That's when the white mist hit them. Castle tried to push Beckett back outside into the fresh air, but failed. He collapsed and all was darkness.

"'Mr. Castle?"

Castle was having a lovely dream about him and Kate in a large pool of chocolate. He was just licking some chocolate off of her perky…

"Mr. Castle!"

The voice woke him up. He opened his eyes and found he was staring into the face of a young woman. She was familiar. Where had he seen her before? "Wentzel. Ensign Susan Wentzel. We met in Australia in Darwin."

"Almost one hundred percent right, sir. But it's Lieutenant (jg) Wentzel now. How are you?"

"A little woozy. What the hell is going on here? Where's Beckett? Is she okay? Where's Penrose?"

"I'm right here, but Penrose was gone when I woke up." Kate said from beside him.

Rick smiled at Kate and then frowned. "Why are her hands cuffed behind her? She's Kate Beckett. There's no reason to cuff her."

"Sir, Mr. Penrose was sent back to his own Earth. It's one we had visited, and just kept an eye on. It's too primitive to be of any use to us. And it'll be centuries before they have any idea that there are an infinite number of universes out there. As for Ms. Beckett, we've established she's not your wife and we have to be careful. She could be one of Demming's people. Or from some place we never heard of. We have to be careful." Wentzel smiled. "The good news is that you can go home now. If you'll just follow me?"

"No!" Castle said forcefully. "I'm not leaving Beckett until I know she'll be okay."

"Rick, that's very sweet, but you can go now. I can take care of myself."

Rick shook his head. "If there's one thing I've learned from following Kate Beckett from one crime scene to the next, it's that no one can take care of themselves. Not armed and trained cops, not armed serial killers, not hired killers or mercenaries, not anyone. They all can be killed. I love my wife, Kate Beckett, and I've found that I love all of the infinite Kate Beckets out there. I am not going to leave Kate here. Period. Understand?"

Wentzel sighed. "Let me go get on the horn to the task force, sir."


	3. Chapter 3

One More Kate

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: One more time. I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Sometime in Season Seven, after the Caskett wedding.

**Author's note: This is one of a series of AU stories that builds on the alternate universe Rick found in The Time of Our Lives and continued by me in Alexis's in Wonderland, Four of a Kind and I, Spy. One or two characters from I, Spy will make an appearance. **

Castle had a chance to look around him. They had been moved to the docks on the Hudson River. Clustered around the dock they were on were several armored vehicles of some sort with soldiers performing some unknown tasks around them. In the Hudson he could see three amphibious ships and one destroyer anchored. Another destroyer was docked not far from them. A pair of frigates, that looked like the class he'd been on, were steaming up the Hudson with a bone in their teeth as the saying went. The river itself looked a lot less muddy and polluted and there wasn't the bad odor he was used to. He saw helicopters and fixed wing aircraft headed out to sea and coming in from the sea. He assumed the rest of the task force, with an aircraft carrier, was out over the horizon someplace.

When Wentzel had left Kate asked, "Who the hell are Demming's people? Certainly not Tom Demming the detective from the 54th?"

"On one of the many Earths, Senator Bracken became President. He was assassinated, or died peacefully, depending on whose propaganda you believe and a general named Demming took over and built a police state. "It wasn't an entirely accurate explanation, but Rick didn't want to give Kate too much information. Information that could get her killed. "Anyway, Demming's Earth has some access to the multiple Earths and has conquered some of them. The Demming Earths are at war with the Earth that Wentzel comes from. They're not perfect, but they're a hell of a lot better than the dictatorship Demming's set up."

"Your girlfriend is coming back." Kate said snidely.

"She's not my girlfriend. I'm married. Married to a Kate Beckett, who I love very much."

"Good news, sir." Wentzel said. "We've tracked down Ms. Beckett's Earth. It's not one we've run across before and it does have some theoretical knowledge of the multiple universes. We'll have to hold her here until we're sure she's not involved with this. But we can take her cuffs off." Wentzel produced a key and freed Kate.

"Good, but what the hell is "this"? How did we get here? What happened to this Earth?"

"You're leakers, sir." Wentzel began.

"What am I leaking and where?" He asked, sarcastically.

"It's what we call people who are suddenly finding themselves on different Earths, such as you two. We don't know what's causing it. Maybe some other Earth is trying an experiment that went haywire, maybe an ancient machine out there has started up, maybe it's a natural event that happens every million years, regular as clockwork. We just don't know."

"Do they just come here?" Kate asked.

"No, ma'am. About eighty percent come here and a lot of them are violent. There is a possibility that this is not an accident or some natural event. Oh, and none have come to your Earth, Mr. Castle."

"Why do you think this might not be natural?" Castle asked.

"Assume you want to invade another planet. Maybe you could send your own troops, but a planet is awfully big to subdue. Let's say you want to invade a planet with a technology level of 1900 Common Era. You find an aggressive planet with a military with 1960 technology and let them invade. When they've worn down and conquered your target, you send in your own military with 2010 technology and take over. Or maybe it's nothing like that. We just don't know. But we have to try to find out. Sorry Ms. Beckett."

"What happened to this planet?" Castle asked. "Everyone can't just have gone away."

"We don't know that either. The task force has sent recon drones out five hundred miles in all directions and found nothing. There's no kind of radio chatter either. From what we can tell, there's been no people here for maybe thirty or forty years."

"On my Earth I've known Kate for over six years. On her Earth, we just met. Is that normal?"

Wentzel nodded. "Pretty much, sir. Time gaps between even the most similar Earths is quite normal. Six years isn't that common, but not unheard of."

Castle just shook his head. "So, basically, you don't have a clue about any of this."

"I'm afraid so, sir. Um, if you'd like some food and water, there's some with another leaker on the other side of the comm track. That's the one with the big antennas on it. She's a young lady."

Rick and Kate stood. "Wentzel, can we have our weapons back? I know there are troops here, but if the creature from the Black Lagoon shows up, I don't want us to be unarmed."

She handed them back their weapons and ammo, including the pistols and shotgun they'd found here.

When Kate went around the comm track, she saw the young lady. _Young_, she thought. _I'm not sure about lady. She looks like she's sixteen going on thirty._

She was sitting on a box and leaning against the comm track. She had long, lithe tanned legs. You could see all of them since her already very short and tight black miniskirt had ridden up high enough to see her bright red panties. A_t least she has panties on_. Kate thought. She had a six-pack stomach and her boobs were covered with a small black tube top. Her boobs had to be D cups and her nipples were poking out her top. She had lustrous black hair that ran down to her butt and very light blue eyes.

Her eyes lit up and she shot to her feet when she saw them. "Hi, I'm Cindy MacMillan. I guess you're leakers, too."

When she smiled, they saw she had fangs. Castle stood in front of Beckett and pushed her backwards. His hand went to the butt of his gun. "You have fangs!" He screeched.

Her smile vanished. "Yes, and I'm a vampire. And in spite of all the crap you've been fed all of your life, I do not drain blood out of people. Our fangs were meant to help us get juice and pulp out of fruit. They're like straws. We're mostly vegetarians. And, surprise, surprise, asshole, I don't burn up in sunlight. So why don't you take your damned ignorant superstitions and get the fuck out of my sight!"

Castle was taken aback. "Miss MacMillan, I have to apologize to you. Both Kate and I, um, by the way, I'm Rick Castle and she's Kate Beckett, we come from an Earth where there are no real vampires. Some people pretend to be vampires and while most are harmless, some are very dangerous. They do get off on draining blood from people. Again, I'm very, very sorry for offending you."

Cindy smiled at them. "I've never ever had someone apologize to me like that. Wow! You know, lady, your boyfriend isn't as big an asshole as I thought."

"He's not my boyfriend, but he is a friend."

Cindy walked over to Rick. "You know for a fangless old guy, you're kind of hot."

Rick decided to take that as a compliment.

Cindy ran her hands over his chest. "Really hot, Rick. And so is Kate. Do you want to sneak into one of the warehouses for some of the old in and out? Both of you, of course."

"I'm married. "Rick said quickly.

"I'm in a relationship." Kate added.

"It's too bad. It would have been great." Cindy said breathlessly.

"You have no idea." Kate replied.

"We were told there was food and water over here." Rick said, wanting to change the subject.

"Absolutely. It's in the box I was sitting on. We have bottled water on ice, some protein bars which aren't bad and some military meals. Something called MREs. I haven't tried those. I can't even boil water."

The three drank water and chewed on the protein bars while Kate looked at the MREs. She decided to try to cook for them and while they ate, they discussed their lives. Cindy was from a very similar Earth and lived in LA. "The LA vampire scene is so, so cool. Except for some assholes from out of town, we hardly ever get hassled."

She was sixteen and quite sexually active, which gave Castle, thinking of Alexis, a near heart attack.

"Yeah, non-vampire guys think they're being all brave and macho banging a vampire. Like we're dangerous or something." She giggled.

Castle saw the shadow descending on them and shot to his feet just as the monster grabbed Cindy and started to take off with her. He got one arm around Cindy and one around the thing. That slowed its rate of ascent, but the beating of its wings increased and he felt himself being lifted off the ground as well.

"Beckett!" He screamed. "Help."

But Kate was ahead of him. She already had both arms around the thing. "Castle, I can't reach my Glock without letting go. Can you shoot it?"

"I'd have to let go too."

Suddenly the beast screamed and dropped to the ground. Castle pulled his Glock and began firing into the thing's chest as Kate pulled Cindy away. After firing seven rounds, he stopped.

He looked down at what he'd just killed. "Jesus fucking Christ! A flying monkey? What 's next? The goddam Wicked Witch of the West coming for my ruby Tony Lama boots?"

At the same time as a dozen armed soldiers arrived, Cindy threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. Her tongue slid into his mouth, she pressed her boobs into his chest and began rubbing her pelvis against his hip.

He pushed her away. "Cindy, I'm married. Please."

She stepped back. "Sorry." She said with a smile that said she wasn't one damned bit sorry. "I don't think one non-vampire in a million would have done what you did for me. What both of you did."

Two medics pushed their way through the crowd and gave the three a quick check, and found nothing wrong.

"Why did he scream and fall to the ground?" Cindy asked.

"I grabbed his balls and squeezed hard." Kate confessed. "I guess it works on monsters as well as assholes in bars."

Castle shook his head. "I'm glad I never came onto you too hard in a bar."

Kate smiled at him. "I'm beginning to think I might just cut my Richard Castle a little more slack. I couldn't have imagined him doing what you just did."

"He might surprise you."

They were interrupted by Wentzel. "Good news. You and Ms. Beckett can go home now. She's cleared."

"What about Cindy here?" Castle asked.

"She's still not cleared to leave."

"Okay. I'm staying, too. Until she can leave."

"That's really sweet of you, Mr. Castle, but you don't have to stay on my account."

He shook his head. "I have a daughter just a year or so younger than you. If she got in trouble like this, I'd hope someone would watch over her. So, I'm doing the same for you."

Kate sat back down. "I'm staying, too, then."

It only took another hour to clear Cindy. The three were taken to a portable transfer point. Cindy was to go first. Before she left, she grabbed Castle and kissed him again, then backed off. "When you get home, Mr. Castle, you'll be the only guy who can say he's been kissed by a real vampire. Twice." She laughed and went home.

Kate was next. She also kissed Castle. "We end up married?"

"I hope so."

"Castle, you said I put my mom's ring away when we caught the guy who killed her. You need to tell me who he is."

He shook his head. "I can't. I know you, Kate. You'll run straight at him and get yourself killed. You almost died three times because of him. I don't want to sound egotistical, but you need me to help you catch him. Please, give your Rick Castle a chance. You both need each other."

She glared at him, but eventually nodded. "Okay."

"Look, he, that is, I was a handful. Not too long from now I'm going to sleep with a Hollywood actress. Dumbest decision I ever made. And you'll decide that I'm really just a twice divorced, boob autographing, sex obsessed playboy and start dating another detective. I'll invite you to spend Memorial Day at my place in the Hamptons. No funny stuff. Please, please break up with the other guy and accept my offer as soon as you can. Promise?"

She smiled at him. "Okay, Mr. Beckett. I'll do that."

He reached into his pocket. "I found your wedding ring, engagement ring in our loft. Please take them to remind you of…always."

Then Kate was gone, followed by Castle.

He found himself on his bed. He checked his phone which was in the charger by his bed. He found that he had been gone for less than an hour. He walked to his office, where Kate was doing some work.

"Have a good nap, babe?" She asked. "You have your jacket on? You should have told me. I could have turned the heat up.'

He leaned over and kissed her. "I wish I had the words to tell you how much I love you."

"We'll just have to try to find the words."

"You'll never believe what happened to me."

"I've learned to always believe, and believe in, Richard Castle."

"This will strain your credulity." He said, taking his pistols out of his pocket.

Kate woke up in her own bed. _It was just a foolish dream after all_. She thought. Then she discovered she was fully dressed, in clothes she was sure she didn't own. She checked the labels. She knew she could never have afforded these clothes. _But Richard Castle could buy them for his wife._

She went to her dresser and found her dad's watch. It was there, and also on her wrist.

She ran to her gun safe. Both of her Glocks were there and they were also in her holsters. She even checked the serial numbers. They were identical. She also had a pistol she was sure she would find had never been made on this Earth.

In her pocket she found two rings. She scratched the gem in the engagement ring against her bathroom mirror. It left a mark.

_Okay, Castle, I'll give you a chance when you ask me to go to the Hamptons with you._

**Author's note: I'm still working on another Lord and Lady Castle in Renaissance Italy story and I have two ideas for stories I'm working on. **


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